Does anyone have a rubber dinghy we can borrow?

Apparently, the west of Ireland has had 4 months worth of rain in the last 3 weeks – and it hasn’t stopped yet. As a result, the Shannon waterway is close to being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water which is trying to make its way to the sea. Hindered by exceptionally high tides and strong westerly winds, the water has now backed up into areas which have not been flooded in living memory. We have escaped the worst of this but there are a lot of families across the county who have seen their homes inundated and are not expecting the waters to recede for a week or more. There are aerial photos of some of the flooding on the Clare FM website. Perhaps there are advantages to living in a city centre flat on the 6th floor!

Do I look like a fecking truck driver?

While the dress code here in Clare may be a little more relaxed than in EC2, one tries to maintain a certain standard. In pursuit of this goal, I visited my barber in Ennistymon today – not just any old barber but a transplanted Dub who has helped me to understand the vagaries of the Irish economy and political life over the last few months.
As I left Ed’s place, on my way to meet Linda, I was accosted by the driver of a late model Mercedes saloon – apparently the owner of a local hotel – who was upset by a parked truck which was blocking access to his driveway. In response to the question “are you the driver of that truck?” I regret that I could manage nothing better than the response above.

Spanish with Mrs O’Riordan

Only two more Spanish classes to go and I am beginning to wonder if the Costa Rican population will understand my irish-accented Spanish. There are only two of us in the class and Michelle from Newmarket on Fergus is really only interested in ordering more beer, finding out when the bars open and negotiating the price for her next tattoo. This has limited our conversation somewhat – although I have learned a few new English words! It was almost a relief to arrive today to find that she hadn’t been able to come to class because of the flooding. 1 ½ hours of one-to-one conversation with Mrs O’Riordan however was a bit of a challenge.

More farming!

Keith had asked if we could move Molly back to our land this morning to allow room for his new foal. Managed this before breakfast and then went down to see how things were on the farm. I spent the rest of the morning helping build new accommodation for the ducks, watching the vet deal with a cow with a prolapse and preparing a space for the new foal. During all of this we had more torrents of rain and gale force winds which added to the enjoyment. We also had to clear vermin which we uncovered when moving a stack of straw bales. Discovered that some of the mice we dispatched were actually baby rats when the mother rat appeared from under the last bale. Unfortunately she took us all by surprise and escaped into the yard.
Michael arrived with the new filly just before lunch and Linda came down to check her out in the afternoon. A very pretty dun Connemara pony with black mane and tail. No name yet but watch this space.
It was fun to visit the big city but it’s good to be home!

Weather

Have seen the reports of the floods in Cumbria, but I think things have been as bad in Cork, Ballinasloe and Ennis where hundreds of people have been evacuated and there are still many areas under water. We’ve seen gale force winds and torrents of rain at Moyhill but most of the water runs down the hill in front of the house and cause us no problem.

Journey home

According to the AA Routeplanner it is 162 miles from Dublin to Moyhill and should take 3 hours. The first part of the journey was very easy – away from the hotel by 10.00, found the motorway with no problem and by 11.45 we had covered 92 miles and reached the exit for Ballinasloe where the main road was closed due to flooding. Unfortunately it took 5 hours to cover the remaining 107 miles due to flooded roads and an extremely roundabout route – spoke to more Gardai today than in the last 8 months trying to find out about passable local roads. It’s all very well for the HGV’s and the landcruisers to plough through the water covering the road – a bit different with a ground clearance of 4 inches!
To cap it all, within 20 mins of getting home we had a powercut – due to heavy rains – which fortunately only lasted an hour. Must remember to replenish the stock of candles and pick up a primus stove!

Melody Gardot

Thursday night at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin for a concert by Melody Gardot – my birthday present from Linda. A great venue and even better performance but not sure I can cope with the Dubs!
Clearly city dwellers who are important and busy and have no time to wait for the end of a number before disrupting the other people in their row – and the entire audience – by their numerous trips to the toilets. One blonde executive bimbo, with her mother in tow, wouldn’t wait for the start of the programme – which was a little delayed – and left noisily and ostentatiously from the middle of a row ahead of us only to return 15 mins after the show had begun and then leave again less than half way through the set.
Melody Gardot was fabulous – if you have not heard her yet then check out either of her two albums – ‘My one and only thrill’ and Worrisome Heart’ - or catch the show when she comes your way.

Dublin

On College Green there is a statue of that famous seafood saleswoman Molly Malone with her wheelbarrow which is a great favourite with camera laden tourists. Due to the style and dress of the female figure – which may more accurately reflect Ms Malone’s true profession – it is known to the locals as the “Tart with the Cart”. This struck me as an appropriate epithet for the city itself which is extravagantly dressed up for Christmas in the midst of the “credit crunch”
In the same vein, ahead of the Budget – due on Dec 9th – the Irish trade unions are arranging a couple of national strikes just to show their opposition to any cuts which the government may be thinking about. They all agree that the economy is fecked but insist that someone else should bear the costs. I am glad that we will be away from here before the budget takes effect!
We did enjoy some good and varied food (no need for Irish stew although still had a few Guinness) and were able to walk to most venues!

Icons

Had a great three days with my uncle Jack in Donaghadee – I can only pray that I will be as able as he is when I am in my 80’s (assuming I last that long) although I’m not even sure I can match him now. He managed a house full of family for PJ’s party and then served up Sunday dinner for 6, all in a relaxed and stress free manner. He made us feel very welcome and nothing was ever a problem – a real example for all of us. Oscar – his Jack Russell - is a character but seems to have mellowed since we last saw him or perhaps he’s more relaxed on his home patch.

Old Friends

It was great to see old friends from the UK last week. They were here for a couple of days, and although the weather wasn’t great we did manage to get out and about to see some of the sights. They arrived with an embarrassingly large package of goodies from Carluccios and Majestic. Should keep us going until Christmas! In return we were able to give them a liver from one of the latest lambs to go to the butcher that week – which I hope they enjoyed when they got home. Since they also live in the middle of nowhere we spent most of our time just chatting, reminiscing and agreeing with each other how great it was to live in the ‘country’ – funny how you don’t miss such good company until …….

Travelling again!

Off to the North tomorrow for my cousin PJ’s 50th birthday party followed by a few days visiting my Uncle in Donaghadee.
Then we are going on to Dublin for a couple of days – and a Melody Gardot Concert at the Olympia theatre which was my Birthday present from Linda. While I am sure we will have a good time, it has been a bit of a challenge preparing to be away from the cottage for a whole week! In London we would normally be travelling at least once every 6 weeks yet this will only be our third trip away in 8 months. Perhaps we are just a little too settled and the trip to Costa Rica will be the ideal way to get back to reality – who knows!

Just another afternoon at Moyhill

9th November
Visitors arriving from the UK tomorrow, so after a morning shopping, picking up the MG – finally repaired – dropping off the hire car and home for a late lunch, the cold wet afternoon was the perfect time for a bit of cooking prep and baking. Had just finished making dough for a loaf of sourdough and put it to one side to prove (the bathroom floor under the radiator has proved the ideal place for this) and got on the jacket and wellies to feed the donkey, when Keith called to ask for help rounding up a couple of escaped cows. Perfect timing – spent the next hour getting the cows back where they belonged, re-rigging the electric fence and tracking down the short-circuit which had lead to the escape. Arrived home – drenched to the skin – just in time to finish the bread making.

The Ceilidh Band Competition

9th November
Last weekend was the Ennis Trad festival which included concerts, pub sessions, CD launches and of course the Ceilidh Band Competition on Saturday night. Paid our €15 each and joined about 600 others in the banquet suite of the West County Hotel to watch 10 bands from across the west of Ireland compete for a €5000 first prize. It was a very close competition but there was one clear winner – both in the view of the professional judges and the audience vote. In addition to some great music, the people-watching was tremendous fun.

Farewell to Lucy & Sean

9th November
The pony and her colt went off to market on Saturday – her visit to the stallion back in June didn’t have the required effect so she had limited value for Keith. In addition the market for the colt – with no particular bloodline – has collapsed over the last year or so. Even so, it was a surprise to hear that he only got €190 for the pair. It has cost more than that in feed over the last 6 months
Sorry to see them go as they have both spent a lot of time on the paddock and we have been feeding and caring for them for the last 4 months. Only Molly – the donkey – left under our care now and she’s feeling a bit lonely.

Lightning strike

9th November
We had been promised thunderstorms among the heavy showers on Friday but didn’t see any evidence until bedtime when we heard a very loud strike which was close enough to knock out our electricity supply and the telephone line (found out later that it hit the electric fence on one of the neighbouring fields). We went to bed hoping that the power loss would not affect our freezer full of lamb and woke to find that the electricity had been restored within an hour. Unfortunately the telephone is still out after six days but should be restored tonight (Friday)

A Daihatsu Sirion?

9th November
After 5 days without car, decided that we would have to rent something for a few days and called the local hire car operators. Had to wait 24 hrs until there was anything available and arrived at the dealers to find that the only car they could offer was a 1.0L Daihatsu Sirion. Despite initial reservations it proved ideal for few days running around Co Clare – luckily we don’t have any big hills to get up! In addition, the fuel consumption was very economical – only used €20 in 5 days.

Central America beckons

5th November
Have now confirmed our flights for January and made the arrangements for the first half of the trip which will see us volunteering on a rainforest project on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. Likely to be a bit of a shock to the system since we will be living in a bunkhouse with 15 or 16 others with limited electricity and only cold water showers. In addition we have just learned that the usual day starts with breakfast at 0430 so that the work can be done before it gets too hot. One of the projects is monitoring Jaguars and this involves a 15 mile beach walk – with daypacks and 5 litres of water. Have been practising on some of our soft sand beaches here but have only got up to 5 miles so far. It’s not quite the same in driving wind and rain and three layers of winter clothes

The Clare Harvest Banquet

5th November
One of the outstanding local events in October was the Clare Harvest Banquet in the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon which celebrated the produce of County Clare. From meat and vegetables to seafood and cheeses and country wines as well, the buffet dinner consisted entirely of local produce. A great idea – especially the provision of contact details for each supplier - and one which should be encouraged more widely as a way of showing people what is available from local suppliers.

Lambs to the slaughter

Helped prepare the lambs for their journey to the butcher a couple of weeks ago and knew we would have to wait a few days for our share of the meat to arrive. It was a pleasant surprise when Keith arrived back and asked if we were interested in the livers and kidneys because he didn’t want them. Still warm when he dropped the bag in my hand! We had peppered liver for dinner and Riñones al la Jerez for the next day and still plenty of liver for the freezer. When the rest of the meat arrived we had nearly 10 kg of lamb in a variety of cuts. Guess we won’t be in the butchers for a while. Tried the chops first and they were tremendous – lovely sweet flavour. We had a roast shoulder on Sunday night and it was just as good – and as a bonus, plenty of leftovers for stovies tonight!

Country life

Think I can probably add “farm labourer” to my cv now. Over the last six months I have helped feed, care for and generally deal with cows & calves, sheep and lambs, ponies and foals, donkeys, dogs, geese and ducks. In addition I have shovelled the copious amounts of sh*t that they produce when they have been kept inside for any reason. By a conservative estimate I have probably shifted more than a ton of the stuff. Still my ex-colleagues would probably tell you that I should be an expert as I spent a lot of my working life dealing with the same stuff in a different form.

November???

Well that’s a record even for me – how did I manage to get through October without a single blog entry? Could claim to have been busy – which is partly true; have been accused of being lazy - which is probably also partly true; could blame the dry and settled weather which we had for about 6 weeks – which kept me outside during the day. Suffice to say that I'm sorry its been so long.
However that’s in the past and it is now November; weather has changed – persistent heavy rain showers and a definite drop in the temperature. It all seemed to change for the worse when the clocks went back. Don’t really notice the extra daylight in the morning but it is a pain to have to finish any outside work by 5.30pm.
I will catch up on all the news from October in the next few days or so but we start the new month without the car which managed to blow a connection on the cooling system as we arrived in Ennis last Thursday evening. Keith gave me a tow back to his place on Friday and we are now waiting for the MG parts to arrive which could be a few more days. Luckily we had just done a shopping run and with the delivery of our lamb from the butcher, have a freezer full of meat. Have had the bike out twice so far – weekend newspapers and other essentials - but may have to hire a car for a few days if it goes on much longer. Public transport doesn’t feature in this part of the country.The other effect of the change in the weather is the influx of small furry creatures into our loft. Have set traps and put down some bait but still hear them running around in the ceiling – one of them even joined us on Friday evening as we were trying to watch a DVD. Not sure where the little bugger came from or where he went to but clearly need more traps